social

Horse Carriages

Mayor Bill De Blasio has pledged to ban the dangerous, cruel horse-drawn carriage industry in New York City. Friends of Animals is pressing New York City Council members to support and pass a bill that would get the long-suffering horses off the streets and into waiting sanctuaries. Why?

Friends of Animals' Campaigns Director Edita Birnkrant was at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse today for the court hearing of Saverio Colarusso, the carriage horse driver charged with animal cruelty in December of 2013 after allegedly forcing a horse named Blondie to work despite a painful leg infection.

“Stuff happens,” said Christina Hansen, a NYC carriage driver, describing an accident that happened April 24 that left Spartacus, a NYC carriage horse for eight years, lying in the road across from the Plaza Hotel.

May 2, 2014: "Horse-Drawn Carriage Protesters Allege Horse Was Mistreated" on NY News1--"And we want to know, where is Caesar?" said Edina Birnkrant of Friends of Animals. "This 22-year-old horse in ill health that he lied and worked when he shouldn't have been working, and now he's disappeared."

The debate that’s raging over the use of horse-drawn carriages on New York City’s streets—Mayor Bill De Blasio has pledged to ban the industry, an initiative Friends of Animals supports—even created a buzz at the New York Auto Show at the Jacob Javits Center on Thursday.